Suspect Detained In Dubai Murder Case

MOSCOW — Investigators said Wednesday that a suspect has been detained in the September slaying of Ruslan Yamadayev, a brother of Sulim Yamadayev, who was killed in Dubai last month.

The announcement, which came after Dubai police accused State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov of masterminding Sulim Yamadayev’s murder, might be an attempt to divert suspicion away from Delimkhanov and his relatives, who include Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, analysts said.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement that the unidentified suspect was detained in Moscow on Tuesday on suspicion of participating in the killing of Ruslan Yamadayev, a foe of Kadyrov and former Duma deputy who was shot dead in central Moscow on Sept. 24.

Unidentified law enforcement officials told the Rosbalt news agency that they believed Ruslan Yamadayev was killed by a Chechen group including former Grozny Deputy Mayor Gilani Shapiyev, his bodyguard Khalid Molochayev and Aslan Diliyev, a former adviser to Kadyrov. Shapiyev was shot dead in western Moscow in February.

“It looks like they are trying to make the impression that there is a different group, one that is not associated with the Kadyrov clan, that sought to kill the Yamadayevs,” said Andrei Soldatov, editor of the Agentura.ru web site and an expert on Russian security services.

The Investigative Committee also said it had detained a suspected gunman and an accomplice in the attempted murder of Konvers Group bank chairman Alexander Antonov on March 11 in Moscow. The committee said the two might be connected to Ruslan Yamadayev’s death.

Delimkhanov, meanwhile, cancelled a news conference where he had planned to speak about the accusations against him. No reason was announced. But he told reporters in the Duma on Wednesday that Dubai police were “sheltering the real killer, Yamadayev.”

A retrospective of the films of Roman Polanski starts today at Loft-Project Etagi, 74 Ligovsky Prospekt, with a screening of ‘Repulsion’ at 7 p.m. and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ at 9:15 p.m. The series runs through Feb. 4 and will include Polanski's eminently creepy ‘The Tenant,’ the cult comedy ‘The Fearless Vampire Killers’ and ‘Cul-de-sac’ among others. Tickets are 150-200 rubles and the complete schedule is available at www.vk.com/artpokaz/